TBS Partners with ViTrue to Launch User-Created Video Site: Funny or Not?

September 27, 2006 - ViTrue, Inc., pioneer of the world’s first User-Created Advertising Platform, today announced a partnership with TBS, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TWX) and television’s “very funny” network. ViTrue will create an online community, Funny or Not?, that enables TBS viewers and enthusiasts to create, produce and upload their own funny videos using ViTrue’s platform and tools. Funny or Not? will be available to viewers at tbs.com.

TBS, one of Time Warner’s leading brands, is embracing the digital world by bringing its “very funny” programming to the internet in unique ways and providing viewers with comedy content in many forms. Funny or Not? is TBS’s first entrance into the user-generated content space. ViTrue’s technology will allow the TBS audience to fully become part of the “TBS experience” and engage with TBS at a previously unimagined level, through full-featured user-generated content creation that respects—and is truly a part of—the TBS brand.

“As TBS continues to build its online presence, especially in terms of broadband entertainment, we are focusing on ways to engage our audience of comedy lovers in new and exciting ways,” said Jennifer Dorian, senior vice president of branding and network strategy for TBS and sister network TNT. “ViTrue provides us with an engaging technology platform that enables viewers to interact with our brand in a compelling way, while also being in line with TBS’s views regarding the protection of copyrighted material online.”

TBS has a strong, loyal television audience and its website is attracting a growing following, as evidenced by the recent response to veryfunnyads.com, which is receiving an overwhelming response from TBS viewers. TBS’s contemporary attitude and funny programming has made it a leading cable network brand that has both benefited from and continues to drive innovative and out-of-the box marketing.

“ViTrue provides TBS with a one stop shop for user created video, through which the network can connect directly with its audience and have them participate in creating the next generation of original comedic content,” says Reggie Bradford, founder and CEO of ViTrue. “Our ready-made platform will allow TBS’s Funny or Not? plans to be realized quickly and efficiently, while also ensuring the protection of copyright owners.”

Funny or Not? will launch in November and will be marketed by TBS via its website, www.tbs.com, as well as, promotions, television spots on TBS and contests. Funny or Not? original video submissions may air on TBS between scheduled programming.

About ViTrue, Inc.
Headquartered in Atlanta, with offices in New York and San Francisco, ViTrue is reinventing the way brand marketing is created, priced and distributed via an online video platform that combines user services, user tools and brand partnerships. ViTrue’s platform is a user-created advertising product that enables brands to leverage consumer creativity to produce more relevant and engaging advertisements at a lower cost of production. The Company’s premier online video sharing community, www.sharkle.com, is the destination for more than 100,000 registered members who are producing and sharing videos. For additional information, please visit www.vitrue.com.

About TBS
TBS, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is television’s “very funny” network. It serves as home to such hot contemporary comedies as Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy, Seinfeld and Friends; original comedy series, like the upcoming scripted comedies My Boys and 10 Items or Less; specials and special events, like The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas, for which TBS serves as title sponsor; blockbuster movies; and hosted movie showcases.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, is a major producer of news and entertainment product around the world and a leading provider of programming for the television industry

Contact Information

Karen Cassell

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

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